Mara Kopp (left) with Jennifer Galehouse and Judge Quentin Kopp at the AIF Dinner at the St. Francis Hotel, March 2009.

Mara Kopp (left) with Jennifer Galehouse and Judge Quentin Kopp at the AIF Dinner at the St. Francis Hotel, March 2009.

Photo: Catherine Bigelow, Special To The Chronicle

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Katy Tang, surrounded by supporters, prepares to be sworn in as the new supervisor of District Four, where she grew up.

Katy Tang, surrounded by supporters, prepares to be sworn in as the new supervisor of District Four, where she grew up.

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

Art Agnos, Quentin Kopp oppose arena

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The Golden State Warriors' planned waterfront arena has done the impossible - unite former San Francisco Mayor Art Agnosand ex-state Sen. Quentin Kopp, whose longtime feuding is both political and personal, behind a common goal.

That goal is to move the arena off Piers 30-32 to somewhere else in the city.

"We're not saying no to the Warriors, just no to that site," said Agnos, whose decision to tear down the Embarcadero Freeway after the 1989 earthquake cleared the way for the rebirth of the waterfront north of 30-32.

Kopp, whose tight-fistedness is legendary, is opposed to the city helping finance the arena with a $130 million loan to the Warriors.

The person who brought the political odd couple together is former city Chief Administrative Officer Rudy Nothenberg- who oversaw the plans for the Mission Bay development south of the piers and who lives in the neighborhood near the arena site. He says the arena, in addition to being too big, will gridlock the waterfront.

Plus, "it's a terrible deal for the port," Nothenberg said.

All three know it's going to be a tough fight, given the go-go mood of the city, the promise that the arena will bring construction jobs and other employment, and the possibility it will help the city attract mega-conventions.

"It's like an ant fighting an elephant," Nothenberg said.

But they are confident.

"You can quote me," Agnos said. "That arena will never be built - not there."

So where would it go? Agnos and Co. have a couple of suggestions - like where Bill Graham Civic Auditorium is now, or the old school district headquarters on Van Ness Avenue near City Hall, or maybe the block where The Chronicle now sits. The paper's owner, Hearst Corp., has already unveiled big development plans for the area.

All those sites are close to BART, they're all close to downtown hotels - and they're all away from the waterfront.

Flip side: In her State of the City address, Mayor Jean Quansaid Oakland's finances were in their best shape in a decade - but City Council members privy to the same spreadsheets see a different story.

Although the city has tightened its belt several notches in the last couple of years, officials just learned that Oakland's pension payments could increase $14 million next year, and another $18 million the year after that, to a total of $85 million in 2015.

"And then there's the debt we don't call debt," said City Councilwoman Libby Schaaf, pointing to the $105 million accounting trick that has allowed the city to borrow from itself and the $520 million in unfunded obligations for retiree medical coverage.

This in a city with an annual general fund budget of $400 million, which pays for everything from police to parks to roads.

Ed's choice: You can sum up Mayor Ed Lee's selection of Katy Tang to the District Four seat on the Board of Supervisors in one word: "safe."

She grew up in the district.

She was the chief aide to Supervisor Carmen Chu, whom she replaces - so she won't have a learning curve.

And she's of Asian descent in a district where Asian Americans make up a large chunk of the electorate. Plus she's smart, so barring political catastrophe, she should be a shoo-in when she comes up for election in November.

That means Lee will have one less fight on his hands - something that couldn't be said if he had named Police Commission member Suzy Loftus, who would probably have faced an Asian American opponent come fall.

Tang also represents a compromise designed to avoid offending rival factions of the mayor's camp.

She wasn't a pick of Chinatown heavyweight Rose Pakor tech angel Ron Conway, who had initially lobbied for other candidates. On the other hand, by picking someone neutral, neither Pak nor Conway would be scored with a victory over the other.

Port call: Headhunting consultant Heidrick and Struggles has just put out the call to replace Port of Oakland executive Omar Benjamin, who was forced from his $257,000-a-year job over a strip-club spending scandal - and, boy, have they raised the bar.

According to the 11-page job description, they're looking for:

-- "A world-class, transformational business leader."

-- "An inspirational leader."

-- And someone with "a stellar record with respect to personal and professional conduct, ethics and behavior."

Maybe most challenging of all, they want someone who is "politically astute without being political."